1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink recharging system in which the ink can be recharged into a recycled ink cartridge repeatedly, a bulk ink cartridge used in the system, and a method for recharging the ink into the ink cartridge using them.
2. Background of the Related Art
As generally known in the art, the cost of the ink cartridges, which are expendables, is relatively high in comparison with the cost of the main body of the inkjet printer, and recently it becomes general to recycle the used ink cartridges in view of the protection for the environment. As for the recycling method of the ink cartridges, the consumers can purchase the ink for themselves and recharge the ink into the used ink cartridge by using simple tools, or a replaceable ink cartridge, which is fabricated to be identical with the ink cartridge which was installed to the main body of the inkjet printer at the time of purchasing the product, or an rechargeable ink cartridge coinciding with the type of the inkjet printer can be purchased and recharged repeatedly.
As one of the conventional art of recharging method of the ink into the used ink cartridge, in Korean patent Application Laid Open No. 10-2003-69596, there is disclosed an ink cartridge recharging system, in which special marketers can provide the consumers with an ink recharging service. This system is constructed that the used ink cartridge can be recharged by simple operation of a switch after it has been installed to a cartridge installing device. Further, there have been known a number of methods for injecting a black ink by means of a nozzle with single injection opening structure, however, in case of a color ink cartridge, the ink is supplied into the cartridge with a separate needle (thin injection needle structure) through a separate hole for recharging, and it has not been generally adapted to inject the color ink through the nozzle with a plurality of injection openings structure according to their colors.
Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the conventional recharging system 100 for the ink cartridge disclosed in the above Korean Patent Application Laid Open gazette will be described briefly.
FIG. 1 shows schematically the conventional ink recharging system for the ink cartridge. The ink cartridge recharging system 100 comprises a cartridge installing device 110, a reservoir 120 for temporarily storing the ink to supply the ink through the tube 101 for injecting the ink into the ink cartridge, an ink tank 140 for supplying the ink into the reservoir 120 through the tube 102 for supplying the ink, and a cylinder 130 connected to a compression pump 150 via an air tube.
Referring to the operation of the system 100, when the switch 104 is turned on after the ink cartridge is installed to the cartridge installing device 110, a piston in the cylinder (not shown) applies pressure to the reservoir 120 by the air pressure supplied from the compression pump to thereby supply the ink into the ink cartridge. When the recharge of the ink is completed, the pressure in the cylinder 130 and the reservoir 120 is reduced to supply the ink from the ink tank 140 to the inside of the reservoir 120 to result in the preparation of the next ink injection.
In the system 100 shown in FIG. 1, three tubes 102 for supplying the ink, and three tubes 101 for injecting the ink are provided for supplying a cyan, a magenta, and a yellow color ink, and respective tube is provided with an one-way valve 101a, 102a for preventing reverse flow of the ink being supplied to the ink cartridge 1 and the reservoir 120. Further, respective storing chamber of the ink tank 140, the cylinder 130, and the reservoir 120 is formed for respective color.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cartridge installing device 110 comprises a body 111 in which the ink cartridge 1 is installed, an ink injection portion 112 contacting with the nozzle 2 of the ink cartridge, and a cartridge securing portion 120 located at the opposing side of the nozzle 2. The cartridge securing portion 120 is constructed that a sliding bar 122 moves in the front and rear direction by means of a link 123 when a handle 121 is rotated in the upward and downward direction. An elastic member 124 is installed at the front end of the sliding bar 122 so that excessive force is not applied to the ink cartridge 1 at the time of securing the ink cartridge. An ink injection hole 113 corresponding to the nozzle 2 is provided at the ink injection portion 112 contacting the nozzle 2 of the ink cartridge 1, and the tube 101 for supplying the ink is connected to the ink injection hole 113 via a connector 115. However, although the recharging system for the ink cartridge described above has an advantage that the ink can be recharged with only simple operation of the switch, after installing the ink cartridge to the cartridge installing device, there have occurred several problems described below.
In other words, when the ink is recharged through the nozzle of the ink cartridge using the air pressure as shown in the system 100, if the recharging has been completed, inside pressure of the ink cartridge 1 (pressure produced from the air existed in the ink cartridge and the injected ink) becomes bigger than the atmospheric pressure. Accordingly, if the recharged ink cartridge 1 is to be separated from the cartridge installing device 110 in itself, the ink in the ink cartridge 1 can be gushed to the outside through the nozzle 2, or the ink existed in a space between the nozzle 2 and the ink injection portion 112 can be flowed down to result in the complicated affairs of the ink in the nozzle or the cartridge installing device 110.
The ink cartridge 1 can be divided into a sponge type and a pack type based on the method for storing the ink in the inside of the cartridge. Especially, in case of the pack type, the printing quality can be decreased because the ink can be leaked due to the increase of the inside pressure produced from the remaining air in the cartridge after the completion of the charging of the ink or because excessive amount of the ink is injected through the nozzle at the initial time of printing.
To solve such problem, it is necessary to control the inside pressure of the ink cartridge by discharging a little amount of the ink and the air remaining in the ink cartridge after the completion of the recharging of the ink into the ink cartridge.
However, the ink recharging system 100 described above has a disadvantage that it is not easy to control the inside pressure of the ink cartridge.
Further, it is inconvenient for the ink cartridge recharging system 100 to apply to various types of the ink cartridges having different shapes and volumes. In other words, it is required to adjust the length of the sliding bar 122 every time when the type of the ink cartridge installed to the cartridge installing device 110 has been changed, so that proper securing force cannot be applied to the ink cartridge.
In addition, it is not easy to inject a determined amount of the ink because it is required that movement displacement of the piston in the cylinder 130 should be adjusted by controlling a controller 131 for controlling the amount of the ink supplied so as to inject a determined amount of the ink corresponding to the volume of the ink cartridge installed to the inkjet printer.
Moreover, in the system 100 described above, since only the one-way valve 101a has been installed to the tube 101 for injecting the ink, so that the ink cannot flow reversely into the reservoir 120, and a little amount of the ink is remained in the ink injection hole 113 after the completion of the ink recharging work to thereby reduce the quality of the injected ink due to the remained ink in the ink injection hole 113 when the cartridge installing device 110 has not been used for a long time after the completion of the ink recharging work. Also, if such ink is recharged into the ink cartridge as it is, the quality of the printing can be reduced as well as the choking of the nozzle in the ink cartridge can be produced.